


A New Holdiay

by Rachel_Lu



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Falling In Love, First Kiss, Fluff, Holidays, Snow, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Dinner, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-24
Updated: 2017-11-24
Packaged: 2019-02-06 03:37:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12808770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rachel_Lu/pseuds/Rachel_Lu
Summary: Rose convinces the Doctor to go to an American Thanksgiving with her, and he takes her to a place where he knows she'll have a good time.





	A New Holdiay

**Author's Note:**

> In 2015 I wrote this, and I kept thinking about it, since today is Thanksgiving, so I thought I'd revamp it (add 900 words) and fix my mistakes to make it better and even fluffier! I hope you guys enjoy it! happy birthday to Doctor Who and Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate!

She grinned happily at him and threw her arms out.  "Thanksgiving!"

His face was disbelieving at best.  He glared at her from around his side of the console, leaning one elbow down on it so he could look closely at her.  "Really, Rose?  All of time and space, literally  _anything_ in the universe, and you want to go to celebrate an American holiday?"

Instead of glorifying that particular remark with a response, she nodded, biting her tongue.  Then she decided to glorify it with a response anyway, because she  _really_ wanted to convince him.  "You know, Doctor, you're the one who always wants to get us involved in different cultures.  This one just happens to be American."

"But all they do is eat and watch sports that day!"  He whined.  "There is absolutely nothing interesting about Thanksgiving."

She furrowed her brows at him and took a step closer to him, "And they spend time with the people they care about most, and remember how lucky they are to have them." She said it with a raise of her eyebrows that seemed to make her point quite clear.

The Doctor had nothing to say to that, because of course, he knew exactly what she was getting at, and it turned out that he would very much like to spend time with her if they went to a Thanksgiving dinner.  He sighed, pretending to be put out.  "Yeah, alright," he said, and started flipping levers.  

"You've never done Thanksgiving, have you?"  She asked, grinning up at him. 

"No," he replied, "I've never... I've never seen a need for it."

"And now?"  She tilted her head, creeping around to his side of the TARDIS.

He looked up at her and nodded slightly, not edging away from her.  His eyes were earnest when he nodded again, more defined this time.  "Now," he said firmly.

She bit her lip and nodded back at him, turning away slightly.  Usually, after the Doctor said something particularly sweet, she needed to give him space, or he would get spooked and bolt towards the library.  "So!" She spun back around, farther away from him now, and smiled at him,  "Do you know anyplace good to celebrate Thanksgiving?" 

The Doctor made a non-committal sound in the back of his throat.  "You know, I think I'll leave it a surprise, but trust me, I'm sure you'll like it."

"You're that sure?" She asked. 

"Oh, Rose Tyler, if I know anything about you, it's places I'm certain you'll like," he said, and he sounded so confident in it that Rose couldn't bring herself to tease him about it.  So, she sat herself on the jump seat and watched him pilot them to their destination, trying not to stare, and thinking about how thankful she was to have him. 

***

After a not-so pleasant landing, the Doctor insisted Rose get her coat, which, she didn't fail to notice, looked like a black, feminine cut version of his Janis Joplin coat.  Keeping that particular thought to herself but still smiling, she did up some of the buttons and subconsciously reached for his hand.  He reached for hers right back and laced their fingers together, moving to give her his very best pinball grin.  She returned it, sure she looked just as ridiculous as he did.    

"Now, here we are," the Doctor said, bouncing on the balls of his feat as they exited the TARDIS, him pulling her along.  "Your Thanksgiving.  Oddly enough, it doesn't ever go away.  The tradition lives on until the Earth burns, and even when the humans split across the universe, there are still bits of it interwoven into society."  He waved his hand about a little bit in the air.  "All that... Joy you humans get from eating and spending time together, as you put it... It never really goes away."

Rose listened to his commentary as she took in all of the bits of futuristic Earth, cold but thrumming with activity, people with rosy cheeks strolling about and laughing together.  It struck her as odd how excited everyone was to sit down and eat, though she knew there was so much more behind it than just eating.  Did they even realize it any more, or were they past it?  

"So you never answered me, Doctor," she said casually, swinging their hands just a bit, "Where are we?" 

"Why don't you tell me?" he asked her, and she all but rolled her eyes, knowing that he would say something like that.  The Doctor really did love to go about things the roundabout way.

"Earth," she said decisively, as she looked around at everything. "Not New Earth, we've only just been there.  So obviously, just plain old Earth. America."

"Brilliant," he said, a giant grin on his face.  "Go on."

"We're in the future, you can tell by the way everything's built, the structure of the buildings and stuff, right?  But I just don't know what century."  She looked at him pointedly, telling him she didn't want to guess any more. 

"Excellent work," the Doctor said enthusiastically, pride showing through in his voice.  He tugged her closer to his side and turned her down to a more scenic road, though the houses were nowhere near suburbia.  She admired the amount of big windows and shocking white siding, tucking her head against his shoulder.  It was all so beautiful, to say the least.  

"Are you going to answer me?" Rose asked patiently, jostling his shoulder playfully after a moment of him not answering her.   

"You're almost right on the button," the Doctor said finally as he pulled her up to a nearly gaudy looking house and rang the doorbell soundly.  "Rose Tyler, welcome to 51st Century Earth."

"Wait... 51st Century?" Rose's eyes lit up with recognition, and the door flew open, revealing a very excited looking Jack Harkness.

"I could smell it in the air!" He exclaimed, sweeping Rose into a hug that made her wrench her hand from the Doctor's, much to his upset.  She giggled and clung to his neck, closing her eyes, reveling in being near her friend again.  He dropped her to the ground, kissing her firmly on the mouth before releasing her, making her giggle.  "Let me look at you," he said, squeezing her waist. 

"Look the same as I did before, Jack," she rolled her eyes at him, even though she had sorely missed his teasing and happy personality.

"No, you've got a better haircut now," he tweaked her ear and turned to the Doctor.  "And a better date.  Hi, Doc."

Even the Doctor couldn't resist smiling at seeing his old friend.  The two men shook hands and the Doctor nodded.  "Hello, Jack.  It's good to see you."

The two of them shook hands, Jack beaming wildly.  He clapped his hands together once he pulled away. "Alright, we're just getting ready to eat, and I assumed somebody would be showing up, just knowing how you are and how Rose is.  There's plenty to eat."

Rose hopped a little in place, and Jack ushered them in, taking their coats and sending them off to the table.  The table was not occupied by Jack's family, but instead by plenty of his friends, men and women, alien and human.  It was a large table, and Rose was instantly accepted into the fold.  The Doctor was already well known in most circles, and the two of them found seats next to each other as Jack took the head of the table.

"Now," Jack addressed everyone at the table after everyone started settling down.  "All of you say something you're thankful for, and then we'll eat all this stuff."

The people at the table all chuckled at Jack's frankness.  All of them, whom the Doctor had assumed would be superficial people, said they were thankful for people, or love, or something else with so much depth that it surprised the Doctor.  Maybe people weren't be judged on their time and place, and 51st Century people were not as shallow as he had previously thought.  

It was the Doctor's turn all too quickly, and he found that he didn't have to think very hard about what he was thankful for. He reached over and took Rose's hand under the table.  She gave him a surprised look as he met her gaze.  He smiled softly.  "I'm thankful that I have Rose Tyler with me."

The smile that lit her face could've set any Christmas tree ablaze.  "I'm thankful the Doctor came back to ask me to come with him a second time."

The two of them sat, grinning like idiots for a moment, before Jack cut in.  "That's so sweet," he drawled, though he really was very pleased that the two of them were being so affectionate with each other.  "I'm thankful for all of you spending the holiday with me.  Go ahead, everyone, eat up!" 

Reluctantly, the Doctor relinquished Rose's hand to eat the very classic Thanksgiving dinner that had been put together.  Soon, everyone at the table was talking like they had been friends for years, including Rose, who told stories about their adventures, and everyone stopped only when dinner and dessert were eaten and somebody let out a cry of delight.

"It's snowing!"

Rose practically burst out of the house with everyone else, wanting to see the snow that wasn't ash, and she stood with the rest of the guests in the middle of the street, coat forgone to feel every bit of the moment, no matter how cold.  

The Doctor followed her at a slower pace, unable to keep from watching her.  Her cheeks were pink and her eyes alight with excitement.  She had just finished spinning with one of the women they'd eaten with and had her arms outstretched into the flurry.  Pretty much unable to stop himself, he went to her and caught her hands before pulling her into a waltz through the street.  

He hummed loudly to her and, catching the tune, she picked it up, and they were doing very well until they started giggling, and she tipped her head forward onto his chest.  She could feel him laughing, and almost protested his release of her before his hands came up to cup her cheeks and tilted her head so she could look at him in the face.  He stroked her cheeks with his thumbs and gazed down at her, his eyes more open then she'd ever seen them.

"I meant it," he said, "I don't know what I'd do without you. I am... Very thankful for you, Rose Tyler."

"Me too," She said softly, her hands slowly lifting to grip his jacket at the waist.  

Without saying anything else, he lowered himself to kiss her.  They wrapped their arms around each other, holding against the cold.  After several perfect seconds, they broke apart slowly, their foreheads pressed together before she leaned back in to kiss him again, this time, tangling her hands in his hair.  He pulled her closer against him, daring himself to open his mouth against hers.  She squeezed her eyes shut tighter and held him closer, curling her fingers and wishing the moment would never end.

Unfortunately, it did, because she had to breathe, but she pulled him into a hug instead, needing to have him close.  

"Stay with me?"

"Course.  Forever."

"Well, it's about time, honestly," Jack said as he approached them, his arms crossed, but a huge smile on his face.  "They might as well get married now."

Neither the Doctor and Rose heard.  They were far too busy holding each other.


End file.
